Ohhh, April and May in Central New York–snow to sun to torrential downpour. How can a family plan weekend activities with such unpredictable weather? When plans change, it’s so easy to throw on the TV, but resist the urge and use bad weather as an excuse to spend some quality time with your teen.
You might be faced with eye rolls or dramatic huffs when you suggest a family game night AGAIN. But did you know that over 80% of 7th-12th graders in Cortland County report they enjoy spending time with their mother or father? Try a different approach, and engage your teen in planning by having them read the rule book before playing. Plus, you can liven up the scene by ditching Monopoly and Clue and trying out some of the games below!
So get ready to ignore those eye rolls and whip out one of these more age appropriate board games for teens (nothing against Monopoly).
#1: Coup
The deceptive nature of Coup makes it great for fun family rivalries! It sounds complicated but it’s actually very easy to get the hang of once you get going. The best part–games last about 15 minutes so it’s not too much of a time commitment for your teen (but trust me–they will be begging to play another round).
Game Play: Players are dealt two character cards (called influences) at the beginning of the game. Each influence card has specific actions that it allows you to complete (i.e. collect coins, assassinate other players etc.). The goal is to be the last player with an unrevealed influence in front of them. The catch is, other players won’t know what influence you have in front of you, so you can play the actions of any influence card. It is the job of other players to figure out if you are telling the truth and, if not, challenge you on your action.
#2: Code Names
Code Names is a team based game that will have you on an emotional roller coaster from start to finish. When you guess a card correctly it is exhilarating but when your team members gives you a horribly vague clue and you pick the assassin card you’ll all be throwing your hands in the air in frustration and (playfully) blaming each other for the loss.
Game Play: Players are broken into two teams (great for large groups!) and a “spymaster” is selected from each team. The spymasters are provided with a key card that shows them which word cards are assigned to their team. The spymasters then take turns providing one word clues with a number to indicate how many cards on the table relate to that clue. The team who reveals all their cards first wins.
#3: Telestrations
This light hearted board game is great for some low pressure fun with your teen. You will need a larger group to make this one fun! Remember the excitement of playing telephone in middle school—waiting to hear that “purple elephant” turned into “Ellie forgot her gym shorts” by the time your whisper made it around the circle? Well Telestrations is just that, but with drawing and pictures.
Game Play: All players roll a dice to determine their secret starting words. Then (depending on if there are an even or odd numbers of players) you either sketch the word or pass the book to the player next to you. Then they either sketch or guess, then pass etc. until the book makes its way back to the first player. The best part: sharing what happened to your word as the book was passed around the table.
